Engine mounted electronic control units for vehicular engines are subject to a high level of heat and vibration and generally disposed in a confined space. In these applications, electronic components and circuits may be formed on a relatively thin substrate that is enclosed within a rigid housing. In order to enhance thermal performance protection against engine vibration, the thin substrate is affixed to a rigidizer that may be bent to produce a reduced size module and that also functions as a heat spreader.
For example, one type of direct engine mount application uses a Polybent™ printed circuit board. This is a printed circuit board that has a flexible circuit board that is mounted to an aluminum rigidizer. The rigidizer provides mechanical support for the printed circuit board and assists in the dissipation of heat generated by components on the printed circuit board, which heat is conductively transferred from the components to the underlying rigidizer. One reference that describes an electronic control unit using a Polybent™ printed circuit board is U.S. Pat. No. 5,998,738, which is owned by the assignees of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
As the functionality of electronic control units has increased over time, the corresponding circuitry has become increasingly dense and complex. As a result, electronic control units have been migrating from the use of two-layer printed circuit boards to the use of four-layer printed circuit boards. One result of four-layer printed circuit boards is increased thickness. Thicker flexible circuit boards are known to crack or split when bent, resulting in a control unit that must be discarded. Discarded control units results in excessive manufacturing costs and waste, especially since the printed circuit board must be populated with components before being folded.
Moreover, the type of material used for the substrate will affect the degree of flexibility of the board. For example, a material that is well known in the construction of circuit boards is a type of epoxy glass known as FR4. FR4 has a glass weave impregnated with epoxy resin and is generally known to be relatively stiff. Although FR4 and other more rigid substrates are substantially less expensive than very flexible substrates, the use of more rigid substrates presents the added problem of cracking and splitting when trying to bend the substrate to a confined space.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,370, owned by the assignees of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes that cracking and other damage may be avoided by heating the substrate to within about 10° C. of the glass transition temperature of the FR4 material. The reference recites that this may be accomplished by passing the circuit substrate through an oven.
A need exists, however, for improved devices and methods for increasing the flexibility of more rigid substrates to reduce splitting and cracking. For instance, a need exists to reduce the cost in the energy expended in passing the circuit substrate through an oven and to reduce the risk of damage to components on the substrate. There is also a need to reduce the time needed to heat up the substrate over the known method of passing the circuit substrate through an oven. It is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved device and method of heating a substrate to overcome most, if not all, of the preceding problems.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.